According to CHED Memorandum Order 3 Series 2012, 70 percent of the proceeds will be used to increase payments and other benefits of teachers, personnel, and other staff, while 20 percent for improvements or modernization of buildings.

The guidelines also require petitioning schools to conduct consultations with students not later than February 28.

Vitriolo said of the petitions, those with 2 to 3 percent hike are low increases while 12 to 15 percent hikes were filed by schools with low base tuition.

GMA News Online requested for a list of universities and colleges who petitioned for a hike, but CHED has yet to compile a final list, according to its Office of Student Services.

Meanwhile, a student of a private university said tuition fee increases are burdensome to them. “Halos every year nagiincrease sila eh,” a franchise coordinator and working student Raymond Canlas said in the “Saksi” report. “Mabigat siya sa mga sa mga parents at sa mga tulad ko na working student.”

Ernest Francis Calayag, secretary general of the Student Council Alliance of the Philippines, also questioned the tuition hikes.

CHED also said the national proposed average tuition for SY 2012-2013 increased by P41.52 per unit to P475.47 from P433.95.

Regional averages of proposed tuition that year ranged from a low of P250.74 by two schools in Region VIII or Eastern Visayas to a high of P965.05 in Metro Manila, where the increase amounts to P79.90 per unit on the average, CHED data show. — with Marc Jayson Cayabyab/GMA News